Emergency department patients with unmet substance abuse treatment need generate much higher hospital and emergency department charges than patients without such need, according to a new study to be published today as an advance online publication of Annals of Emergency Medicine (Unmet Substance Abuse Treatment Need, Health Services Utilization, and Cost: A Population-Based Emergency Department Study).

Researchers led by Ian Rockett, PhD, from West Virginia Universitys Department of Community Medicine and Center for Rural Emergency Medicine found that emergency department patients with unmet substance abuse need are 81 percent more likely to be admitted during their emergency visit and 46 percent more likely to have reported making at least one emergency department visit in the previous 12 months. Their utilization of emergency medical services accounted for $777.2 million in extra hospital charges for Tennessee in year 2000 dollars, representing an additional $1,568 for each emergency patient with unmet substance abuse treatment need. In this statewide study, less than 10 percent of the emergency department patients needing substance abuse treatment were currently receiving it.

"We predict that systematically addressing substance abuse problems in emergency departments would produce major savings in time, resources and costs," Rockett said. "In exacerbating the workloads of very busy hospital staff, emergency patients with unmet substance abuse treatment need add many millions of dollars to annual health care costs. Our research findings speak to the importance of identifying them as substance abusers -- either for a brief intervention or to refer them to substance abuse treatment as appropriate. The emergency department visit itself can represent a teachable moment for a patient."

The researchers estimated that 27 percent of adult emergency department patients in Tennessee have unmet substance abuse need. Compared to patients without substance abuse treatment need, patients with unmet need were younger, more likely to be male, and uninsured or enrolled in TennCare, Tennessees Medicaid-waiver managed-care program. The study was a cross-sectional survey conducted in seven Tennessee hospitals between June 1996 and January 1997.

Cellulose obtained from wood has amazing material properties. Empa researchers are now equipping the biodegradable material with additional functionalities to produce implants for cartilage diseases using 3D printing.

It all starts with an ear. Empa researcher Michael Hausmann removes the object shaped like a human ear from the 3D printer and explains:

The phenomenon of so-called superlubricity is known, but so far the explanation at the atomic level has been missing: for example, how does extremely low friction occur in bearings? Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institutes IWM and IWS jointly deciphered a universal mechanism of superlubricity for certain diamond-like carbon layers in combination with organic lubricants. Based on this knowledge, it is now possible to formulate design rules for supra lubricating layer-lubricant combinations. The results are presented in an article in Nature Communications, volume 10.

One of the most important prerequisites for sustainable and environmentally friendly mobility is minimizing friction. Research and industry have been dedicated...